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Current district court clerk interested in applying for elite litigation boutiques. From what I've seen on firm bios, a fair number of associates also seem to have a COA clerkship under their belts. Looks like I've missed the boat for 2019 hiring, so any COA clerkship would have to start in 2020, by which time, I'll be around 5-6 years out of law school. I don't have any particular interest in appellate work, but can't tell if a COA clerkship is a de facto requirement. If I don't do one, would that significantly affect my chances at a lit boutique? And if I do end up doing one, would the fact that I'll have been out of law school for that long also affect my chances one way or the other? Thanks all.

Can't answer other questions, but I think positions starting in summer 2019 are still out there. 2L's won't apply to most of those until their fall 2017 grades are out. Feeders are done though.

I would think your seniority is probably a more important factor at this point, for better and for worse.

Disclaimer: I'm a dumbass

Also I would think your stats would be determinative. If you don't have stats for the top shops, adding a CoA isn't really going to help.

Anonymous User wrote:Current district court clerk interested in applying for elite litigation boutiques. From what I've seen on firm bios, a fair number of associates also seem to have a COA clerkship under their belts. Looks like I've missed the boat for 2019 hiring, so any COA clerkship would have to start in 2020, by which time, I'll be around 5-6 years out of law school.

The "elite litigation boutiques" generally don't hire applicants who are 5-6 years out of law school.

In your situation, it's not worth it.

OP here. Responses were helpful -- thanks!

rpupkin wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Current district court clerk interested in applying for elite litigation boutiques. From what I've seen on firm bios, a fair number of associates also seem to have a COA clerkship under their belts. Looks like I've missed the boat for 2019 hiring, so any COA clerkship would have to start in 2020, by which time, I'll be around 5-6 years out of law school.

The "elite litigation boutiques" generally don't hire applicants who are 5-6 years out of law school.

This. Although, if you aren't getting interviews with the most commonly named TLS "elite litigation boutiques" that generally don't hire applicants 5-6 years out of law school, it could be worth doing the COA clerkship and applying to other "elite litigation boutiques" that aren't quite as well-known around TLS, and which prefer (or even require) actual litigation experience. I suspect by that time, a COA clerkship really isn't going to bump your chances, though.